Here’s to the opening acts

Andrew Collberg (left) and bandmates Connor Gallaher (center) and Arthur Vint opened for Alejandro Escovedo on Saturday at Gruene Hall.

A list that I did long ago titled “Albums We’d Like to See” (I don’t remember what prompted it) included this suggestion  “Get the Hell Off the Stage: A Tribute to Opening Acts.”

Actually, I don’t feel that way. In fact, I’ve been known to fuss at reporters who cover concerts and blow off the opening acts. But I was too busy trying to get reviews done from my weekend concerts (Old 97’s, Friday; Alejandro Escovedo, Saturday) before the exhausted folks at mySA.com headed home early Saturday and Sunday to deal with the warmup folks. So it’s time to make amends.

But first, the Tranya. Wait, that’s an old “Star Trek” line. Sorry; really groggy this morning. I meant, but first, a brief rant:

Is there some unwritten rule that’s it’s uncool to actually tell your listeners the name of the song you’re about to play and maybe just a bit about it? Even established artists need to take pains to break in new material in a fan-friendly manner. This goes double  make that quadruple  when you’re playing for folks who don’t know much (if anything) about you.

All three opening acts I saw this weekend  Sleepercar and The Crash That Took Me, Friday; and Andrew Collberg, Saturday  were guilty of this. This was especially critical for The Crash That Took Me, since the vaguely Cure-like alt-rock band from Dallas wasn’t even listed on the bill for the Old 97’s show at Floore’s. But the co-ed septet (female bassist and violinist) walked onstage and started playing at 8:15 without saying a word, despite the concert having a 9 p.m. start time. It took me a couple of songs before I realized they weren’t Sleepercar.

Not that Sleepercar did much better. And the El Paso country-rock quintet should know better. For one thing, they’re fronted by Jim Ward, the singer/songwriter/guitarist who’s an alum of the beloved At the Drive In and is in its offshoot, Sparta. So this isn’t his first rodeo.

But he never uttered a single song title, though Sleepercar only has a single album, “West Texas,” which came out in April (and which, based on the show, is worth checking out). He did talk about being inspired to form Sleepercar after he saw the Old 97’s in an El Paso bar. That show “blew my mind and opened my mind. It’s good to get your mind blown.”

Their sound was more straightforward country-rock than the 97’s’ punked-up gallop, but they were intriguing. One minute, they featured a crying steel guitar that seemed perfect for a dancehall on Friday night. The next, they were cranking out power chords that suggested an impending cover of AC/DC’s “Live Wire.” I was about to go check to see if Ward was wearing those Angus Young schoolboy shorts.

As for Collberg, whose trio opened for Alejandro Escovedo on Saturday at Gruene Hall, it may just be a case of youth and inexperience. Led by singer-songwriter Collberg, a native of Sweden who grew up in Arizona and who may actually weigh 100 pounds soaking wet, the band plowed through four new tunes before finally playing a couple I recognized  “Roll on in Bed” and “Dream Tonight,” from his 2006 debut CD.

Though they had a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look at times, they turned in an entertaining, tuneful 45-minute set for an appreciative crowd. Collberg has been compared to everyone from John Lennon to Bob Dylan to a young Elliott Smith, which is enough to intimidate a grizzled veteran, much less a 20-year-old front man. But he and his mates managed to win over the crowd and overcome some setbacks. After breaking a string on his acoustic guitar, Collberg said, “I think the humidity is messing with our dry instruments very bad.”

If guess if you live in Tucson, it probably seems that way, although Gruene Hall was actually more comfortable Saturday night than other summer shows I’d been to (i.e., the 97’s’ two-night stand back in June 2005).

Anyway, I was about to write in my notes that none of the band members, which included guitarist Connor Gallaher and drummer Arthur Vint, looked old enough to buy a beer in the hall. But when I saw them standing at the merch table after Escovedo’s set, I decided to ask them.

The answer: No, no and no. Gallaher is 17; Vint, 19.

For a 17-year-old, Gallaher sure has a nice guitar collection  a butterscotch Stratocaster, a white Telecaster and a lap steel. And he acquitted himself well on all three with a melodic, compact, unflashy style that suited the songs. Collberg, meanwhile, started out on a Danelectro electric before switching to acoustic. Surely someone his age couldn’t possibly own a vintage Jimmy Page model Danelectro. No, it was a copy, he said.